Let me tell you a story, it’s about demons and how they came to be. From the moment there was sin there were demons. Some are born never knowing the light of day, already damned into darkness, but others had to earn their damnation. These were demons that were born human, and while some changed because of infected blood, there are a few who became demonic after becoming truly evil. Whether it was from selling their souls or just losing them, these people were void of humanity and evolved into something vile and sinister. And it was these depraved creatures that were the origins to demons; breeding new races throughout hundreds of generations. Within time these beasts began to crave blood and flesh until it became a part of their DNA. Outcast by all gods, the demons grew to fear holy emblems; the ankh especially, since it was one of the oldest and most recognized symbols amongst these ancient creatures.The blood of demons was a disease to humans; it was tainted with evilness, and would infect those who came into contact with it, bringing out the wickedness in their own souls. Some people turned fouler and faster than others, but a few could manage to preserve some semblance of humanity, but either way to survive once becoming infected, the subject would have to continuously consume blood to keep their own stabilized. These half breed demons are vil sangs. They mostly walk in human form, but when enticed, their demonic features such as glowing eyes and fangs would emerge. Over time they could grow more demonic both in looks and in strength. Vil sangs are on the bottom of the demonic pyramid; the weakest of their kind, they are usually looked down upon by full blooded demons. Vil sangs are commonly made by other vil sangs, since demons despised them, but a few are made by true demons; whether it is out of boredom or for a different form of torture. The vil sang disease is one that cannot be cured; the demonic blood is too powerful and quickly works its way through the human body. There is no vaccination to prevent it, anyone who had blood to blood contact would surely become a vil sang. With the birth of demons came warriors who would fight them, mortal men who trained and earned their strength. They would hunt and kill demons to cleanse humanity. Some of these warriors hunted in clans while others hunted alone, but all of which would devote their lives to the mission, giving up anything that would ensure their success. It usually led to a hard life, but none as cruel as that of a girl who was born and then thrown into an instant and constant struggle for survival.Sarain knew nothing else.

She could feel his eyes intensely on her; he had been watching her all night, waiting to get her alone. But that time wasn’t yet to come, she wanted to dance, and knew the perfect place they could go. She brought him to what appeared to be just an ordinary warehouse downtown. The outside had a large red X spray painted on the brick; it looked like simple graffiti. The man looked up at the building with a strange look, he thought that perhaps she was lost, but she insured him that this was the intended destination. At the door they were greeted by a large stern man who gave the woman an once-over look before letting them both in. The man got the impression that the bouncer recognized the woman as a regular. Inside was dark and only lit by surging colorful spotlights that flashed around the large room. Many people danced inside to an endless pulsating beat that blasted from speakers placed above in the rafters. Most people were dressed dark and looked very pale, but it was hard for the man to be sure in the poorly lit room. The woman led him into the crowd like she fit right in even though she stood out in her bright red dress. She took him by the hand and he followed her out. Lights flashed as the woman moved seductively against the man. The music was fast but the woman danced slow, lingering close to him in a longing manner. She leaned in towards him as if she were going to kiss him, but then pulled back at the last second just to tease him. He smiled at her, and when she did it again, he quickly moved in to get the kiss, but she was surprisingly too fast for him. Instead, he got a deep sniff of her hair and he thought of how good she smelt. And as if reading his mind, she said, “I taste even better.” She then leaned in and whispered into his ear, “Let’s go somewhere more private.” She took him by the hand once more and led him to another door other than the exit.“Where are we going?” he asked.“You’ll see soon enough,” she said to him with a smile. Behind the door was a staircase leading down into a dark corridor. The man found it odd, but didn’t really care if it meant he could be alone with her. The stairs went a ways down, so much that the man could no longer hear the music from the club above. When they reached the bottom the woman pressed the man against a wall. She started to move in closer to him, her skin brushed up against his, she felt warm against his cool skin. He looked at her lustfully and asked, “Are you ready to let me have that taste?”She smiled and then suddenly yelled out, “Now!” And seemingly out of nowhere, two large men came out of the darkness.The man quickly made motion to move, but the woman knocked him back against the wall with incredible force. The man’s eyes then lit up and his fangs and true self came out. He looked over at the two men and noticed that their faces were deformed like gargoyles and their skins were gray. “What is this?” he shouted out, “She’s the one who’s human!”They didn’t listen and grabbed the vil sang man instead. He struggled as they dragged him deeper into the underground corridor, where he saw a large metal contraption standing in the middle of the room. The woman walked over to it and flipped a switch causing the metal pieces to start moving, and the vil sang soon realized what it was; it was a giant meat grinder. The vil sang continued to holler as the bigger beasts brought him closer to the grinder. Then he gave the woman one last look and muttered out, “You bitch,” before the beasts threw him in.She watched as the metal sliced through his flesh until his screaming stopped. She never closed, nor looked away with her violet eyes.

Sarain walked out of the dark club, feeling dirty for having let that vil sang man touch her; but she was glad to have finally gotten rid of a beast that had killed many naïve young women. She had been tracking him for some time after learning of many similar deaths of attractive young women, whose bodies were all found near clubs and all wearing red dresses; the man had a very particular taste in women, and tonight Sarain had fit that image. Sarain had learned a new way to hunt, a way of letting the monsters come to her, and even a way of working with them. Three years had passed since the first time she had fought next to someone with demon blood in their veins, and now she saw the world differently. She was twenty-three and much wiser. Now she worked with the owners of an underground vil sang club called The X. The owners were demonic vil sangs who specialized in selling rare meats. Sarain had a deal with them, she would stay away from them and their regular customers if they wouldn’t sell human. So far the deal was working well. The actual club wasn’t open to the public; vil sangs only. It was a place for them to mingle with their own kind and take sanctuary. Many of them practiced sustaining their urges, and only drank enough blood to feed and not to kill. Every now and then the club would allow a regular friendly human in, if it was a known sustaining partner to a vil sang, but never was a human allowed in unaccompanied without a vil sang. Only Sarain had that privilege, as part of her agreement with the owners. And she would occasionally bring them demons to dispose of as meat; it kept her from having to worry about clean up and carcasses left behind to be found by unknowing people.The night air was cool with a light breeze. Sarain felt her long dark hair flutter behind her. She walked down the dark alley away from the club when a police car quickly pulled up to her and came to a sudden stop. Its lights were flashing but the siren was off. She held her dress down from the gust of wind, and stared curiously at the cop car. The driver door then opened, and a tall strong looking man stepped out with a stern look on his face. He had a shiny badge pinned to his uniform, this first caught Sarain’s attention, next was the gun in his holster. He looked over at her and muttered out, “This isn’t a place a little lady like you should be. It’s not safe.”“I think I can handle it,” Sarain responded back.“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” he said as he began to approach her.Was he serious, she thought to herself with almost a chuckle in her head. The man continued to approach Sarain, and when he finally stood right in front of her, he stopped and glared down at her. She knew he had no probable cause to stop her, but still he stood blocking her way. Sarain could feel the tension pulsating off of him, and when he made a motion to move she quickly reacted by grabbing him by his shirt.“I can get you for assaulting a police officer,” he stated, but she ignored him. Instead Sarain tugged at his shirt and pulled him down to her eye level. The man had a look of surprise in his eyes, caught off guard by her strength. He waited for her to make her move, but Sarain’s expression softened and she smiled at the officer then she leaned in and kissed him hungrily.He placed his arms around her and kissed her back with just as much passion. This officer was no stranger to Sarain, she had known him for nearly two years, and they had been a couple for most of that time. His name was Eddie, though she called him by his given name, Edward, even though he didn’t prefer it, but he let only her get away with it.They had met one night when Eddie was responding to a call about screams coming from an abandoned building downtown. It was a known den for crack-heads and homeless people, so Eddie figured it was going to be a routine sweep; he and his partner had shoed people out of there before with little hassle. But this time when he walked into the crumbling building, he immediately saw blood all over the walls. And when he and his partner discovered the partially eaten body of a homeless man, Eddie went and called for backup. They had thought the place was secure enough, but while Eddie was on the radio he heard his partner let out a blood curdling scream. Eddie ran back inside to find a scaly creature on top of his partner, and mauling at his throat. Eddie took out his gun and began shooting the beast, but it didn’t seem to faze it. The creature lunged at Eddie, but midway through the air something else flew at the beast. It was Sarain, she was on the monster before Eddie was even aware of anyone else being there. And it was in moments that she had the beast down and decapitated. Eddie was stunned at first, but then asked Sarain what had just happened. All she responded was, “A demon happened.” Then she left without further explanation. After that, Eddie came across Sarain more and more while on the job. Each time she told him a little more, until finally she sat down with him and explained about demons: how they worked and how to kill them. It was after that, that Eddie began helping her, whether it was fighting by her side or just covering up after her kills. And one day after a particularly long night of hunting, Sarain turned her attention on to Eddie, and began kissing him without a word. It was from then on that any time they saw each other things usually took a passionate turn. Tonight was no different, and after a few hours at Eddie’s place Sarain found herself dressing and slipping out while he slept. She was always invited to stay, but never did. She wasn’t comfortable sleeping next to someone, always worrying that her constant nightmares would open up too many questions she wasn’t prepared to answer. She figured the less Eddie knew about her the better, and besides she didn’t want to get too attached; she was always on the move, and might one day have to leave him behind.She was prepared to do so.

Chapter 2

A knock at the door jarred Sarain out of sleep. It had already become night, but she still felt tired from her vigorous night before. Nevertheless, Sarain was glad to get up; she had been dreaming about him again; memories from her past that she didn't want to look back on. She quickly dressed with the knocks still coming from her door before finally she was ready to answer it.A man stood on the other side, or at least he looked like a man; Sarain knew better though, this wasn’t a man, he was a vil sang, and she had grown able to tell the distinction in an instant. He looked panicked and desperate; he had to be to come to her door. Sarain knew that the man wouldn’t be able to step inside, he couldn’t cross the barrier she had hidden in the door frame, it was a barrier to keep out evil beings that she was now cleverly hiding in the frames and sills of her home; better to not alert people to her strange behavior and the barriers didn’t need to be constantly redone. Sarain looked at the man and said, “You have a lot of nerve coming here, you know what I do to your kind.”“I do, but I heard you also know the difference between creatures that are evil and ones that aren’t,” he replied distraughtly. Sarain looked into the vil sang’s helpless eyes and could see that he meant her no harm. She could tell the difference, it was something she looked for now, before she would kill any vil sangs; whether or not they were actually evil and not just genetically so. Sarain had learned a lot in the three years since defeating Sephor.“What do you want?” Sarain finally asked.“I need your help, and I heard that you’re experienced in these kinds of situations,” he answered.“I don’t really help your kind,” Sarain quickly stated.“But it’s my children that need your help,” he frantically said, “They’re my children from when I was human, and they still are. A vil sang couple has them and plans to kill them.”“Okay,” she responded and then asked, “Why can’t you get them on your own?”“They aren’t regular vil sangs, they’re more… more…” he trailed off thinking of a word to describe them.Sarain finally stopped him by saying, “Demonic?”“Yes,” he replied, “And they are too strong for me to take on alone.” This could have been a trap, but Sarain was still curious, she continued to talk to him and learned that the man’s name was James, and that both his son and daughter had been taken by this demonic vil sang couple. It was the same couple that had turned him only a few of years earlier. They were not pleased with his progression as a vil sang, and felt that his children were too strong of a tie to his humanity, and needed to be disposed of. James wasn’t willing to lose his children, and knew that if they were to be saved something would have to be done fast, that’s why he had come to Sarain. She had been in this particular town for nearly two years and had made quite a name for herself on the streets there. He had learned that if anyone could save his children it would be Sarain. Sarain never could turn her back on children, if there really was a chance to save a child she had to take it. She accepted the task and got more information on the vil sang couple such as their whereabouts and interests. Their names were Cyrus and Desmina, and they had been together for more than three hundred years. Cyrus had a weakness for beautiful women and Desmina had a weakness for Cyrus, she was completely devoted to him. Sarain accepted the mission; demonic vil sangs seemed to be popping up more frequently, and were getting to be easy to take care, especially now that she had a few tricks up her sleeve, and someone to back her up.

Sarain and Eddie waited outside a bar for the last member of their new trio to arrive. Eddie continuously looked at his watch, checking the time until he finally said, “He’s late. Why do we even have to wait for this guy? It’ll be fine just the two of us.”Sarain sighed and explained, “You’ve never dealt with a demonic vil sang, they are much stronger than your every day ones. Besides, it’s his children we are trying to save; he has a right to be there, Edward.”“Well I’m not waiting here much longer,” he protested.“Yes, you are,” Sarain stated, it came out like an order, but then she reached over and caressed Eddie’s cheek, and added, “Because you’ll do it for me.” Eddie’s expression softened and he gave her a smirk. He took a hold of her hand and kissed it, then he told her, “You know I can’t say ‘no’ to you.” He then leaned in to kiss her, but Sarain pulled back and motioned to someone who was approaching. Eddie looked over to see a man who appeared to be in his thirties with dirty blond hair and pale skin walking towards them. The man looked like a jock and was prettier than Eddie’s liking, he didn’t like the idea of such a man visiting Sarain’s home, vil sang or not.The man stopped in front of Sarain and gave her a look of recognition, then turned to Eddie and gave him a once over. Catching his questioning gaze, Sarain noted, “James, this is Edward, he’ll be joining us.” “It’s Eddie,” Eddie quickly added. James gave him a glance, but said nothing in response, as if not interested; instead he turned to Sarain and asked, “Are you ready for me to take you to their lair?” “Yes, a full on attack without them suspecting would be best. If they were to find out you recruited backup before hand, it might give them time to prepare an attack back, or it could scare them into getting rid of the weight that is your children,” Sarain speculated.“I can’t have that,” James stated.“I know, that’s why we’re moving in fast,” she replied. They followed James, all on foot, down different alleys and narrow walk ways. A car would be too noisy and can easily be heard coming. The lair was supposedly two miles away from their start point, but all the twists and turns down alleyways made the trip seem longer. The sky was black except for the bright nearly full moon. The streets were wet from an earlier rain and the moon reflected its light in the puddles on the ground. As they neared their destination, James put his hand out to signal them to slow their pace, and they crept the rest of the way. He then pointed down to a dingy short stairway leading to a basement floor apartment. The building looked old and decrepit, it appeared abandoned, and Sarain doubted that the building still had paying tenants. It looked like a perfect place for a vil sang to hold up in. James went down first, he gave the door knob a quick shake, but the door was stuck on something, perhaps its frame had swelled from the humid air. It didn’t matter either way, he planned on getting in. James kicked the door in, and this signaled Sarain and Eddie to hurry down the stairs, they had to move quickly now, since their entrance was likely to have been heard. They rushed into the dark building, weapons in hand. Eddie making sure to keep a close and watchful eye on Sarain, even though she was much stronger and skilled as a fighter than him, he still felt protective of her. James continued to lead the way. Inside the building was water damaged, tumbled over broken down furniture, holes in the walls, rodents, and insects. Mold was growing on the walls and floors, and the air had a sour pungent stench to it. It wasn’t a place that a human, even a vagrant, would choose to stay in. The place was silent, and the three of them began to search the building from room to room. Sarain had initially thought that the place was a mere apartment building, but in fact the place was more like a large condo-like house. Each room they checked stood empty of both people and of décor. It didn’t look like anyone had been living there, but James assured them they were in the right place. They then went down a long narrow hallway, and as they walked, the stench grew thicker. James still led the way, but Sarain was beginning to feel like him leading was a bad idea; she knew what that smell was, and the silence only further backed her suspicions. James turned the corner then quickly came to an abrupt stop. His blade dropped from his hand and splashed in a puddle on the floor. Eddie noticed the puddle was dark and looked thick then he too realized what Sarain had already foreseen. The floor was covered in blood, blood also stained the walls, and inside the room, just around the corner from Sarain and Eddie laid the decaying bodies of two young children; James’ children. James dropped to his knees, but when Sarain saw the blood rapidly soaking into his clothes, she quickly grabbed him by the arm and yanked him up. Eddie then reached for James’ blade, but Sarain called out, “Leave it!” She didn’t want James to be handed a blade covered in his kids’ blood. It was obvious due to the decay that James’ children had been killed soon after they were abducted. They were likely dead long before James had even come to Sarain for help, there was nothing she could have done to stop it. Still, Sarain felt at fault, like their deaths were somehow tied to her, it was a feeling she always got when she found children the victims of demonic attacks, ever since she lost Kit. She glanced quickly then turned away from the sight of the two small tattered bodies. She closed her eyes and the image of Kit lying limp and cold in an empty dark room flashed into her mind. She felt a tear escape her eye, but quickly wiped it away, she didn’t like to show her emotions. Eddie was watching Sarain through the corner of his eye and noticed her try to hide the fact that she was crying. Eddie had never seen Sarain cry before, and was surprised that she would bother to hide her emotions at a time like this and even with James himself crying while standing only a foot away. It bothered Eddie that Sarain kept up with her hard exterior, her purposely hiding her feelings seemed worse to him than if she had remained emotionless. Eddie didn’t know how to make her open up, he knew this wasn’t the time, but he wasn’t sure if he would ever see a lighter side of Sarain. Sarain stepped forward, and took a quick look around. Aside from the corpses, the place was empty of people. She shook her head, and said, “It looks like they left this place days ago, they could be anywhere by now.”“But my kids… my kids…” James stammered.“Your kids are gone! There’s nothing we can do!” Sarain shouted at him, hoping he would shut up. “We could bury them,” Eddie muttered. Sarain turned and shot him a look then stated, “Because carrying around a couple of dead bodies sounds like a good idea. We have to leave them.” She was annoyed that Eddie could make such an obvious mistake; she didn’t understand that he was trying to be sympathetic to James. “We need to search the place for anything that might be a clue to where they could have gone,” Sarain ordered, “Edward, you and James take the other rooms.” This was her way of being supportive to James, not having him search the room where his kids’ bodies laid.Eddie nodded to her, and led James out of the room. Sarain then started searching around. As she searched through the ghastly room the pungent smell seemed to grow stronger and was enough to make anyone gag, but it was a part of the life Sarain was use to. It was looking hopeless when something suddenly caught Sarain's eyes, a black mirror hanging on the wall. Sarain did a double take when she saw it; something seemed odd to her about the mirror, mostly because it showed her reflection, and nothing else. Never had she looked in a mirror and only seen her own reflection. She approached it cautiously, and studied the mirror more closely. It had a metal frame which had what looked to be hand carved details. The metal was tarnished and the mirror looked very old. Sarain watched both herself and her surrounding in its reflection, all appeared normal, and nothing was out of place. The fact that the mirror seemed ordinary was what made it feel so special to Sarain, like it could give her the peace that no other mirror could. Soon both James and Eddie came walking back down the hall, Eddie was carrying a big dusty old book in his hands, while James was empty handed. “This is all we found,” Eddie said while holding up the book, “It was buried under some debris. It appears to be a handwritten journal, but I’m not sure of what, some of the entries look kind of strange. I thought you might want to take a look.”“Well take it with us,” Sarain said, and then she turned and looked back at the mirror, she then reached up and took it off the wall, “We’re taking this too.” Eddie looked at her with confusion, but didn’t question her. They followed her out, James hanging his head down and keeping his eyes low. Sarain never offered any words of condolence, so Eddie in her stead asked him, “Are you alright?”“My children are dead; do you think I’m alright?” James replied with a tone.Sarain glanced over at James and finally said, “We’ll find the creatures that did it. Your children won’t go un-avenged.”“Maybe so, either way, when I find them I will tear into them with every ounce of strength I have, just as they did to my children,” he muttered in response. Sarain lowered her eyes, she hoped that James would have his revenge, but she knew from experience that getting revenge never took away the pain nor lessened it. Nothing would fill that void, and something so heart-wrenching could not be forgotten. She knew James could never have children again, damned humans could not reproduce. Normally she didn’t care about the welfare of any vil sangs, but something about James’ situation dug at her; parents sometimes lose their children, but never do they have an eternity to mourn them.

Chapter 3

There was nothing really either Sarain or Eddie could do, so they left James alone. He went his separate way, and they weren’t sure if they would ever see him again. Sarain wouldn’t give up looking for the demonic vil sangs that killed his children, but she didn’t think it was likely that they would find them. Both she and Eddie walked in silence; he could tell something was bothering her. They had lost innocents before, but it was always a different feeling to lose children. It was only then that Sarain ever appeared affected by the casualties. Eddie wanted to discuss it with her, but the look on her face told him not to press the subject.Eddie walked Sarain home where he left her to be alone; she always sought solitude after a bad night. She placed the old book on her desk, and walked to her closet, inside it she shuffled around until she reemerged with a photo in her hand. The photo was of a woman in her early twenties with long dark hair and vibrant brown eyes. She had a sweet smile, but a somewhat sorrowful look on her face, and inside her arms she clutched a small child. It was a curly haired girl who looked scared and was trying to hide her eyes. It had been the girl’s first photo, and she had been frightened of the camera. Sarain remembered well, because she was the girl, and the woman was her mother, Ariana. Sarain had always wondered what her mother had been thinking of when the picture was taken, whatever it was seemed to make her sad. Sarain had few memories of her mother; she died when Sarain was only five. Her mother had been twenty-three, the same age Sarain was now. Sarain thought of how short her mother’s life had been, and wondered how her life would have been different if her mother had lived. But then she also had those same thoughts about her clan. Sarain put down the picture, and then picked up the mirror she had taken from the dank lair. She looked into it and saw her face staring back. Her violet eyes looked tired, and she realized her skin was beginning to get pale. She hardly ever went out during daylight hours anymore, her prey was nocturnal, so, so was she. Sarain took the mirror, and hung it up on the wall. She wasn’t one for decorating, but the mirror fascinated her. She wondered what made it not show her the visions that were constantly haunting her. She then turned back to her desk and gazed over at the journal that Eddie had found. It looked old, and was partly damaged from water. Sarain picked it up and began to flip through its pages. Some of the writing had bled and become incomprehensible, and some of the pages were stuck together and were too frail to pry apart.She tried to make sense of what the book was about, but its notes seemed random. Then she saw an entry that was familiar to her; it was the recipe for a barrier spell. All the ingredients were there along with a few new ones that further helped keep out evil beings. Sarain looked in amazement. She flipped a couple of pages and found précis descriptions on how to kill demons of different types and origins. It described spots to hit to break through the hard scaly hides of stronger demons. Sarain scanned and skimmed through more pages, and realized that she was looking at a hunter’s handbook. She had never seen such a thing before, and was surprised that it had been found in a demon’s lair. Then she realized that the demons must have taken it from a hunter they had likely killed. A wave of sadness hit Sarain; someone’s life work had gone into this book, and it had become a demon’s garbage. But now she had it to care for, and could add on to it. She marveled at the possibilities of what knowledge this book might hold, and what it could teach her. She flipped further into the book and noticed a peculiar entry. It was titled “Ancients”, in it, it told of a legend about a rare breed of mythical demons, ones without weaknesses or any semblance of a soul. The writer also often referred to them as “The Damned”, and stated that these creatures were once humans cast into damnation without the help of tainted blood. They were described as the worst of mankind, and were so evil that they lost their souls. Sarain noticed that the author failed to give a description of these beasts, but believed that it was probably because no one had ever seen one or at least lived to talk about it. She had learned from experience that the more evil a demon was, the more demonically deformed it became. She imagined that one of these Ancients, if they existed, would have to be the most frightening thing that could ever be imagined, if it was even possible to be imagined. She continued to read on and learned that the author had heard rumors that a real ancient was alive and living in a small primitive town set in a rural countryside. The writer went on to say how he tracked down the supposed town and did find a large array of beasts but none so great in which could be one of these ancients. The hunter then investigated several other possible cases of an ancient, but most panned out to be bogus. All except one, it was a case in which an entire village of trained hunters was wiped out over night. It was said that when the village was found by a small party of hunters who often affiliated with these villagers, they found that the village’s barriers were left untouched, but all the occupants inside were brutally murdered and their bodies desecrated. Sarain’s heart began to pound, it sounded all too familiar; could the author be talking about her clan? She skimmed through the passage, but found nothing else of relevance to her people. She wondered if the author had believed that the villagers were all killed by one creature; she knew from memory that her clan had been destroyed by an army of beasts. Perhaps it was instances like this that people often contributed to the workings of these supposed ancients. But then a sick feeling hit the pit of Sarain’s stomach; Sephor had told her that he hadn’t been the one leading the attack on her clan, but that there had been someone higher up than he. She had hoped that he had been lying to her, as some final way of screwing with her mind. But she had never found an explanation as to how her clan’s barriers could be breached, but not actually broken. And apparently the author of this handbook couldn’t find one either. “The barriers were left untouched,” the phrase kept spinning through Sarain’s head, “The barriers were left untouched.” How could that be? If there was someone else left responsible for the death of her clan, even if it was some kind of legendary demon, she had to find it, track it down, and kill it. The entry ended, and the author went on about something new. He talked about mixtures of the right kinds of metal ores to make stronger blades that wouldn’t break so easily on the harder demons’ hides, but the subject was of no interest to Sarain. She wanted to learn more about Ancients, and if they could possibly exist. But she knew in her heart that if she wanted to find out more, she would have to do it herself. She just didn’t know where to start.

A few days had gone by since that night; all the while Sarain had been studying from her newly acquired handbook and hunting as routine. Tonight she hunted with Eddie by her side, it was something they often did when Eddie could find the time from work; his nights were usually busy working as a cop. He wasn’t as experienced as Sarain, nor was his skills as honed, but his presence was still helpful, and he often kept monsters off Sarain’s back whenever they found multiple demons together. Sarain had never trained a hunter before, and rarely ever came across one, but she found Eddie’s eagerness to learn appealing. And in the time that she has known him, his ability to keep up had improved dramatically. Still, she didn’t want him hunting alone, and even though she was quite capable, she had the feeling that he didn’t want her hunting alone as well. The night air was muggy, humid from another early rain, and the ground was still damp all around. It would be harder to find creatures on a night like this since most people didn’t like to be out in such weather, which gave the beasts less targets to find. But sometimes this also came as an advantage: if a demon was hungry enough, it might be willing to come out of hiding, and even brave enough to attack a hunter. The now full moon was mostly covered by heavy rain clouds that lingered until they would be ready to release another bout of rain. The clouds made the night darker than Sarain had expected, every turn had been filled with more shadows, and every dark crevasse had been harder to explore. Eddie in particular was having a hard time seeing that night, and had nearly tripped on a number of cluttering objects on the ground, so much so that Sarain was beginning to get annoyed. Yes, it was indeed darker, but she was still able to see, and in her mind, Eddie should be able to as well. They had trekked for many hours of the night with no signs of a beast. Eddie was starting to slow down, and appeared a bit winded until he finally stopped and said while breathing heavily, “I need a break, this humidity is killing me.”“Every minute we waste is an opportunity we lose. If we’re not the ones to find these beasts, then that means they’re finding innocent victims,” Sarain spoke sternly.“I know, I know,” Eddie panted, and continued, “But I’m of no use exhausted.”“Then perhaps you should go home,” she stated.He stared at her for a moment and then said, “I don’t want to fight with you. You know I don’t like you hunting without me, and you know I’m not leaving, so there’s really no point in arguing with me. I’m not going anywhere.”She turned around to look at him, but suddenly yelled out, “Down!” Eddie reacted fast and dropped to the ground just in time to have a demon fly over his head. It just barely missed him, and landed on the ground in between them. Sarain charged at the creature with her blade ready. She swung and it quickly raised its arm to block her, but the beast underestimated her strength, because her blade sliced halfway through its arm, through its rough exterior, until it hit the bone. The demon roared in pain and swatted at Sarain who jumped back, missing its attack. It tried to charge her, but was stopped when it was surprised from behind by Eddie. It must have forgotten him, or didn’t see him as a threat, because it was caught off guard when Eddie moved his blade around its neck and in front of its throat. Then with both hands on the blade, he thrust back the weapon until he sawed through the bone. Its head dropped to the ground before its body crumpled. Black blood oozed from its neck, and most of the spray went outward away from Eddie. He looked over at Sarain who had a look of relief on her face. Tired or not, Eddie still had good reflexes, and Sarain was thankful for that. Eddie moved back from the carcass and lowered his blade. Sarain soon rushed to his side, she cupped the side of his face with one of her hands and stretched up to kiss him. She never should have doubted his capability. That was the only demon they found that night, they made their way home a few hours later. Sarain followed Eddie back to his place. As he cleaned off their blades, Sarain looked at a picture of his parents framed by his bed, he had lost them both in a car accident a couple years before he met her, but he was always talking about them. They sounded like good people. Eddie stepped into the room and noticed her admiring the photo. “How come you never talk about your parents?” he asked her.Sarain set the picture back down, turned to him, and said, “There’s not much to tell. My mother died when I was really young, and I never knew my father.” “Who raised you?” Eddie questioned with curiosity. He could never get Sarain to open up about her past, and was surprised now how willing she was to talk.“My grandfather, but only until I was thirteen,” she answered.“Why’s that?” he quickly inquired.“Because he was murdered,” she bluntly responded then added, “After that it was just me.”“Wait, how did you manage that? Didn’t you have to go into foster care or something?” he asked confused.“No, I lived on the streets and in abandoned property up until I was old enough to earn money,” Sarain described, “Then I’d work odd jobs to make me enough money to get by for however long I’d plan to stay in that particular place.”“How much longer do you plan to stay in town here?” Eddie asked with a worried tone.“Well, there’s still a steady amount of aggressive creatures here. It’s a regular hot spot. I won’t leave until the number is cut down significantly,” Sarain stated, catching Eddie’s concern. He walked over to her, put his arms around her, and gave her forehead a quick kiss. “It must have been hard for you growing up all alone. But you have me now, you never have to be alone again,” he told her. His words were meant to make her feel happy, but instead Sarain was feeling a bit smothered, she didn’t know how to tell him that once her task was done she didn’t plan on staying. Eddie wasn’t really at fault for it; Sarain just didn’t know how to depend on someone. She did care for him, and she had let him get closer than anyone had ever been to her since she was a kid. But still it felt like something was lacking in her, like she was missing the ability to form a real attachment. Perhaps she was just blocking it herself; after all, she had lost so many people that it had made it harder for her to make a connection. Sarain watched as Eddie took off his dirty shirt to clean up. She stared at him thinking how even though she still felt as though her guard was up; there was something about him that kept her wanting him around. Eddie glanced up and noticed her watchful eyes. Sarain walked over to him without a word and ran her hand over his short, cropped hair; its bristles lightly scratching the palm of her hand. His dark eyes stared down at her as she ran her hand over the skin of his cheek. She then moved her hand down his neck and he quickly grabbed a hold of her hand. He pulled her to him and leaned down to give her a tender kiss. His lips were soft, they were always soft, and his kiss always left her wanting more. Eddie ran his hands through Sarain's long hair and down her back. He brought her closer to him till she was pressed against him, skin against skin. She took in his smell with a deep breath; he smelt salty, sweaty from the hot night, but she loved his scent, it reminded her of strength and safety. He kissed her again, this time with more hunger and passion. She placed her hands on his chest, and pressed on him as if to keep some distance between them, and did this even when they became one, until finally she gave in and embraced him fully.Eddie kissed Sarain's cool skin with his warm lips, and worked his way up her neck and to her ear. Then he whispered to her, "When will you let me in?""You are in," she whispered back. He moved his head back and looked her in the eyes, "No, in here," he said placing his hand over her heart. He had noticed after all. She stared at him for a moment then took his hand and held it in hers, their fingers interlocking. And with her other arm she wrapped it around his back and pulled him to her. She kissed him longingly, and wished to herself that she could give him what he needed from her. But she could only show him; the words weren't there, and she wasn’t sure if they’d ever be.